Record number of mailed marijuana packages caught by feds in Colorado last year

934 packages discovered in 2017; 805 in 2016

A record number of packages were mailed to or from Colorado with marijuana inside in 2017, according to data obtained by Denver7 Investigates through the Freedom of Information Act.

DENVER – A record number of packages were mailed to or from Colorado with marijuana inside in 2017, according to data obtained by Denver7 Investigates through the Freedom of Information Act.

In 2017, 934 packages were discovered by the United States Postal Inspection Service containing marijuana. The packages were mailed to or from Colorado.

That number is up significantly from the 805 packages found in 2016.

Since 2012, the number of packages with marijuana inside has increased, and is up significantly from 2014, when recreational marijuana was legalized under Colorado state law.

YEAR NUMBER

2012

234

2013

365

2014

410

2015

542

2016

805

2017

934

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Mark Herbert Koenig, 36, of Arvada, was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Koenig pleaded guilty to mailing packages containing marijuana inside on four occasions.

“U.S. Postal Inspectors seized each package after a drug dog alerted to it,” the release said.

“U.S. Postal Inspectors continue to aggressively target individuals who use the postal service to distribute controlled substances,” Dana Carter, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Denver Division, said in the release. “Our efforts to protect the nation’s mail, and postal customers, from illegal drug shipments are highlighted in cases such as these, where repeat offenders are sent to federal prison.”

A federal judge sentenced Stephen Paul Anderson, 27, of Arvada, to a year in prison last year after postal inspectors and law enforcement officers with the West Metro Drug Task Force caught him mailing 30 packages containing marijuana out of state.

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